Now into its fourth year, the Cycling Express Warburton race weekend
hosted by the Blackburn Cycling Club has been run and won. Each year the
event continues to grow, as word gets out about the great circuits on
offer in the hills around Warburton.

With the Synergy Baku team entered, the start list for the weekend had
an international flavour. The pleasant weather that greeted riders
Saturday morning for the hill climb up Mt Donna Buang was a nice change
from last year’s wet and cold conditions. Riders across the board were
posting some impressive times; with Miranda Griffiths (Holden Women's
Cycling team) the fastest of the women winning in 53:15 and Connor
McConvey (Synergy Baku team) winning the Men’s with a blistering time of
45:13!

The circuit for Sunday’s road race led riders out through Powelltown on
the Yarra Junction Noojee road, where all riders then continued with at
least one lap of the hilly Piedmont loop. Great racing was had across
all the grades, with the challenging course paring each bunch down by
the finish. Women's A grade was won by Rebecca Locke (Liv/Giant) coming
in just over two minutes ahead of Sarah Riley (Liv/Giant) and Rachel
Ward (Bendigo & District CC). Men's A grade was a closer affair with
Nathan Elliott (Target Trek) just getting the better of Peter English
(St Kilda CC) with a strong throw to the line.

Congratulations to all the riders who raced over the weekend. Thanks goes to Cycling Express for their continued support of our events. Also to the Commissaires, the Blackburn Cycling Club - Warburton
race committee for their dedication in the months prior organizing the
event, and all the volunteers who gave their time up on the weekend.
Mark it on your calendar for next year!

Nice to read all the positive comments over on twitter #WarbieRR and #DonnaBuangITT. Please keep the comments coming; good or bad. We aim for the Warburton Race Weekend to be included in the VRS and are determined to make it happen.

I'll produce a write up of the weekend shortly, but a week of sleep deprivation preparing for this race has taken its toll and I need to call it a night.Though before I do, I would like to again thank the race committee who did many hours of work behind the scenes in the lead up, and the Blackburn cycling club members and others who volunteered their time on the day so you could race.Martin Lama - Race Director